G'day from Adelaide

[WhiskeySour]

G'day everyone
I've been reading the forum for a while and finally built up the motivation (or more correctly finished off all the other jobs around the house to keep the boss happy) to start a build.
Looking forward to sharing my progress and failures, you guys seem like a pretty helpful bunch!
WS

[dans.brew]

Welcome mate!
Good luck with your build... remember to put up lots of pics. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[woodduck]

Hey mate, welcome :greetings-waveyellow:

What are you thinking of building?

[WhiskeySour]

Thanks

I've managed to pick up some 2in pipe from my plumber for nothing (other than a promised bottle of goodness) so I think I'll have a crack at a pot first. He even offered to do all the soldering for me but I'd prefer to learn a few new skills myself and good to know I've got a back up plan if it goes to shit!

I've got 1 length of 2in about 1050 and another a hair over 400 so I'm thinking of using the small peice for a shotgun and keep the long bit intact for now and use as the column. Figured I can always chop the column up later if I decide to use it differently

I'm in 2 minds about either going for the simplicity of building a Liebig or just going straight to a shotgun. Don't have much soldering experience so don't want to bite off more than I can chew. Ive read the soft solder threads and watched a couple of the linked YouTube videos which makes it look a lot easier than it is no doubt

I guess the only way to find out is to start soldering

[woodduck]

You'll be fine, its not that hard, trial and error.

Good luck

[Dunnonuthin]

Welcome to the hobby! Your user name suggests your a bourbon drinker? But do you have a need for nuetral in your house?
You have many options with your 2”. The two lengths are about perfect for a Boka. I’d say make the pot still first, you can fiddle with the Boka head while doing runs in the shed. As you said, make the long length your pot. Easy easy flanges (they are a thing) on both ends. Then another easy flange on a couple of reducers down to 1/2”, a 90degree union and a Liebig condenser and your in business! Make the Boka so it uses the same Liebig, pack the column with scrubbers and run slow you can produce great neutral.
It’s pretty close to what I started with. Was very happy with the results.

[WhiskeySour]

Thanks Dunno
Yes mainly a bourbon drinker hence the pot, however there is always a need for gin as well so was thinking the option of Boka or ccvm as part 2.

[WhiskeySour]

So I'm going to go with a Liebig for this build, will be 3/4 over 1/2 which seems to be the standard. I went to the green shed today to get everything but came home missing a few things which in hindsight I should have worked out before I went.

A couple of questions;

1. For the tee at each end of the water jacket, what size should the water inlet/outlet be - 3/4" or 1/2"? Ie do I need a 3/4-1/2-1/2 or 3/4-1/2-3/4 tee?

2. And what fitting do I need on the water inlet/outlet? I was hoping they would have something in brass that could convert to a hose barb or something similar but couldn't find anything

I'm sure I've read this somewhere on here already but can't seem to find the right answer, apologies for questions that have probably been asked 1000 times

[Lesgold]

Hi whiskeysour welcome to the mad house. I think you’ll enjoy the ride. The learning starts now and never stops. That’s the beauty of this hobby. Onto your questions. 1/2” will be fine for the water in/ out. That will provide all the water you will need to keep things cool. If you want a simple solution for connectors, go for a brass snap hose connector. Costs about $6 or $7 dollars at the big green shed. Cut it in half and you have two snap fittings to solder into the tee. (It may need just a bit of filing to get it to fit.)

[WhiskeySour]

Thanks Lesgold, as I read your response I remembered reading that in a thread somewhere!! There is so much good info here, it is hard to keep up

Will have to do another trip during the week, hoping to get building on the weekend

[Lesgold]

If you want a good project to get your soldering skills up to speed, try building a parrot. Doesn’t use much in the way of materials and it allows you to get a feel for the torch that you are using, fluxes, heat etc. By the time you get that made, you will be ready to build anything. I would tend to go for a shotty build rather than a Liebig. It’s pretty simple if you have a handle on soldering. Easy flanges have that name for a reason. They are cheap, effective method for joining modular components. If you build a shotty, it could be used later on when you decide to upgrade. In saying that, a Liebig doesn’t use much material and only takes about half an hour to make.

[WhiskeySour]

Yea I thought I'd go with Liebig to get a still up and running, but I'll make the pot modular so I can change the condenser if I do go shotgun later

Thanks for tip on building a parrot

[WhiskeySour]

Finally got around to making a start today

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[WhiskeySour]

Ended up with something that hopefully resembles a Liebig. Plugged it in to the tap and no leaks, which even surprised me. I snapped a pic but it seems the file size is too large to attach (4mb)

[WhiskeySour]

Here it is, managed to shrink the file
Cleaned up ok with a bit of filing
Thanks Lesgold for the tip on the snap fitting, worked a treat

[dans.brew]

Ended up with something that hopefully resembles a Liebig. Plugged it in to the tap and no leaks, which even surprised me. I snapped a pic but it seems the file size is too large to attach (4mb)

Good stuff mate!
I always seem to have pics too big in size to upload too... recently i came up with a solution to this problem. I take most on my phone as i go. Open them up in the gallery and have them on the screen how you want them and simply take a screen shot.
They go from 2-3 mb down to under 1 mb usually.

[WhiskeySour]

Ah yes of course, didn't think of that (I txt then to myself as they auto shrink)

[Lesgold]

Well done WiskeySour. Some good soldering there. Should be ready to move on to something a bit more complex. There are plenty of resizing apps available to keep pics down to a reasonable size. Some are free too if you don’t mind the odd advert. I use this one on the iPad.

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